Three Israeli diplomats who allegedly roughed up an immigration official at the Indira Gandhi International Airport last Saturday have been sent back by the country’s mission here. They were sent back immediately after the mission here heard of the incident, said an official spokesperson of the Israeli Embassy.
“We took this incident very seriously. The decision to send them back was taken immediately after the Embassy heard of it,” he added, while declining to reveal their names. Separately, other sources said India had also taken a serious note of the incident and was in touch with the Israeli Embassy to resolve the issue.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police are still awaiting a reply from the External Affairs Ministry on the extent of immunity enjoyed by the three Israeli diplomats.
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“Besides the Vienna Convention, there are treaties on country-to-country basis in which specific privileges are granted to Embassy or High Commission officials. In the letter forwarded to the Israeli Embassy through the proper channel, we have sought clarification on certain points. Once we receive a reply, we can take a call on whether to call the diplomats for questioning or not,” said a police officer. He, however, could not provide a time frame by when the reply would come.
In the incident that was captured on a CCTV camera, one of the diplomats is seen slapping the immigration official, Somveer, after an altercation broke out between them. The other two roughed him up.
The diplomats were to board a flight to Kathmandu and there was a rush at the immigration counter. They told the officials present to speed up the process and blamed Somveer, who was checking their documents, for the delay. An argument soon escalated into an altercation.
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Other immigration officials present there informed the IGI police. They detained the diplomats. A case under Section 186and 332 under the IPC was registered and the three diplomats were named as accused.